LEPIDOPTERA. 29 



how easily he will arrange these insects into genera by their 

 structure." 



The larvae vary excessively in the number of legs, sixteen 

 being the usual number, but in several genera (Gracilaria, Lith- 

 ocolletis, etc.), we only find fourteen; in Nepticula, though 

 the legs are but poorly developed, they number eighteen ; on the 

 other hand the larvae of a few of the smaller genera (Antispila, 

 Tinagma, etc.) are absolutely footless. 



For collecting and preserving these minute and delicate 

 moths, which are called by collectors, Micro-lepidoptera, espec- 

 ial instructions are necessary. When the moth is taken in the 

 net, it can be blown by the breath into the bottom. "Then 

 by elevating the hand through the ring, or on a level with it, a 

 common cupping glass of about two inches in diameter, or a 

 wine glass carried in the pocket, is placed on top of the left 

 hand over the constricted portion, the grasp relaxed, and the 

 insect permitted to escape through the opening into its interior. 

 The glass is then closed below by the left hand on the outside 

 of the net, and may be transferred to the top of the collecting 

 box, when it can be quieted by chloroform" (Clemens) ; or the 

 moths may be collected in pill-boxes, and then carried home 

 and opened into a larger box filled with fumes of ether or be- 

 zine or cyanide of potassium. In pinching any moths on the 

 thorax, as is sometimes donc^the form of that region is inva- 

 riably distorted, and many of the scales removed. In search- 

 ing for "Micros" we must look carefully on the lee side of 

 trees, fences, hedges and undulations in the ground, for they 

 avoid the wind. Indeed, we can take advantage of this habit 

 of many Micros, and by blowing vigorously on the trunks of 

 trees start the moth off into the net so placed as to intercept 

 it. This method is most productive, C. G. Barrett states, in 

 the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," while a steady wind 

 is blowing. 



In seeking for the larvae we must remember that most of 

 them are leaf miners, and their burrows are detected by the 

 waved, brown, withered lines on the surface of leaves, and therr 

 "/rass" or excrement, thrown out at one end. Some are found 

 between united leaves, of which the upper is crumpled. Others 

 construct portable cases which they draw about the trunks of 

 trees, fences, etc. Others burrow in the stems of grass, or in 



